Journalism in the Public Interest

After Katrina, New Orleans Police Shot Frequently and Asked Few Questions

Case Three

Danny Brumfield Sr., 45, was shot to death by New Orleans police officer Ronald Mitchell on the night of Sept. 2, 2005, or the early morning of Sept. 3, 2005, outside the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

Ronald Mitchell, and his partner, Ray Jones, said they encountered Brumfield as they drove along Convention Center Boulevard about 2 a.m. on Sept. 3. Brumfield, they said, jumped on the hood of their police cruiser and then attempted to attack Mitchell with a pair of scissors. Fearing for his life, Mitchell fired a single shot from his weapon, a 12-gauge shotgun, which struck Brumfield. The officers say they got out of their vehicle and checked Brumfield’s vital signs; he was dead. As the crowd gathered at the convention center grew angry, they left.

Mitchell says he returned to the area later that night and said he saw a pair of “scissors with a red handle” on the ground near Brumfield’s corpse. Police didn’t collect the scissors, and photos reportedly taken by officers at the site of the shooting were lost.

Brumfield’s relatives, who were with him at the convention center and witnessed the incident, said Brumfield was trying to get the officers’ attention when he approached the police cruiser. His sister, Dolores Augustin, said he might have been trying to get aid for a dehydrated grandchild; his niece, Africa Brumfield, thought he was seeking help for a woman in the crowd who was screaming. In depositions, both women said he wasn’t brandishing scissors and did not hurl himself onto the vehicle. The car drove into Brumfield repeatedly, throwing him onto the hood, according to Africa Brumfield.

Africa Brumfield and other witnesses said her uncle was flailing about on the hood of the car, trying to maintain his balance, when a gunshot went off. The family also contends the shooting happened around 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 2, 2005.

In 2008, the Brumfield family settled a wrongful death suit with the city of New Orleans for $400,000, according to the city attorney’s office.